The Cat and the Fox
by GlitchInTheSky
Summary: A cat and a fox changed the future of the Akatsuki. An If-the-Akatsuki-lived story. Drabble.
1. The Feeling of Escaping Death

**A/N: This is a drabble with little to no plot.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

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Chapter 1: The Feeling of Escaping Death

Sasori didn't know exactly when the black cat started following him. Wherever he went, he would find it staring at him with those large gray eyes that seemed to be trying to convey some sort of important message to him.

"Danna? Why are you staring at that cat, hm?" Deidara pulled the puppet master back into reality.

"No reason. I was merely observing its movements for my art," Sasori commented, effectively setting his partner off.

That was right. The S-rank shinobi needed to focus on his next assignment: the capture of the One-Tailed Beast.

Almost as if picking up on the thought of his dangerous mission, the cat gave him a meow.

As it turned to leave, it looked back and sent him a hard look as if to say, "Be careful and come back alive."

Then the cat was gone. Sasori would've stood there until the end of time had it not been for Deidara, who was arguing against the puppet master's earlier remark.

"Art is fleeting, Sasori no Danna. You've got it all wrong, hm!" Deidara protested.

In a flare of irritation, Sasori sent Hiruko's tail into a deadly arc aimed straight at Deidara. Of course, the terrorist jumped out of the way easily, but the action served its purpose of bringing its master back to the task at hand.

Later, during his battle with his grandmother and the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage, he would recall the warning of the black cat and dodge the attack that would've ended his existence. Instead, Sasori was immobilized by the seal trap planted by the old puppeteer and captured.

Sasori was thrown into jail as Sunagakure and Konohagakure engaged in a battle over custody of him and, therefore, information on the Akatsuki. Technically, Sasori had already given them a crucial piece. As a reward for capturing him, Sasori of the Red Sand, he had told the pink-haired medic to meet up with his spy on Orochimaru in ten days.

As Sasori sat resignedly in his jail cell, he heard a meow and a jingle. The puppet master turned to find the black cat holding the keys to his cell.

Sasori had narrowed his childish brown eyes at the cat in distaste, "You again."

It wasn't a question, and the cat didn't treat it like one. It merely slid through the bars of the cell and quietly placed the keys down in front of him. The cat then left the cell and sat in the corridor then stared at him.

Once again, those eyes seemed to be speaking to Sasori, "Follow me."

The puppet master gazed at the cat for a while longer, wondering exactly why this supposedly stupid animal was helping him, then finally grabbed the keys and freed himself from the cell.

The moment Sasori set foot in the corridor, the cat moved down the corridor. After a certain distance, it sat down again.

Once again it beseeched him, "Follow me."

So this little game continued until Sasori had been lead out of Sunagakure through a secret passageway (, which had passed through the place where they held his things).

Afterwards, Sasori never saw the cat again, and he was left with the lingering feeling that he shouldn't have been alive just then.

He did not return to the Akatsuki.


	2. Irony Is Almost As Bad As Karma

Chapter 2: Irony Is Almost As Bad As Karma

The black cat had been following them for the past five days. Occasionally, it would leave them, presumably for food.

The Zombie Duo were beginning to become unnerved by the gray-eyed beast, but neither of them mentioned it as they continued their usual banter.

Kakuzu gradually forgot about their little follower as he thought of all the bounties this mission contained. Hidan distracted himself by thinking of all the people he would be able to kill. Their assignment was to capture the Two-Tailed Cat.

Both "immortals" had just about forgotten the black symbol of bad luck when they found it standing in their path.

Even though the two were S-rank shinobi, they couldn't stop their heart, or hearts, from lurching in surprise.

Hidan and Kakuzu had come to a complete stop in the small ordeal, but neither of them wanted to speak, to acknowledge, the harmless creature in front of them.

It's gray eyes bore into their bodies, "Don't underestimate people."

The message was conveyed loud and clear, and the cat promptly left, slinking off the road and into the foliage lining the path.

The two "immortals" stood stock still before silently coming to an agreement: this didn't happen.

However, no matter how hard they tried to forget, the cat was lodged in their memories, creating a rare but frustrated silence between the shinobi.

During their supposedly "final" battles, the Zombie Duo found the strength from these words to avoid a gruesome death. Kakuzu found himself fooling his enemy with a decoy body, and Hidan was fully intact though six feet under.

It would be the cat, who had reappeared after the Konoha shinobi left, that lead Kakuzu to Hidan's burial site and pleaded with the miser to free the Jashinist. One long look into the cat's gray eyes, and Kakuzu obliged.

The Zombie Duo didn't return to the Akatsuki afterwards, and they were presumed dead by both sides.

Neither thought about how ironic that they were saved by a cat.


	3. The Feeling of Owing Your Life

Chapter 3: The Feeling of Owing Your Life

Deidara wondered why the black fox was following the two Akatsuki members. It golden eyes burned holes into his back as if willing him to turn around and acknowledge the animal.

"Senpai! Why does Fox-san keep following us?" Deidara was irritated by his partner's constant questions regarding their little stalker.

As he thought about it, he seemed to recall a similar situation happening just before he went on the mission to capture the One-Tailed Beast with Sasori. Deidara recalled that Sasori had been captured on that mission. He had heard that the puppet master later disappeared from his cell, leaving only the keys in the corridor in front of his prison.

Were the animals perhaps omens?

"Senpai?" Tobi's high-pitched voice brought him back to the task at hand.

The two were tracking down Itachi's younger brother in order to kill him. This was not required of him, but Deidara insisted on going anyway.

As the two stopped to rest at a tea house, Deidara found the fox sitting across the road, staring straight at him. The terrorist got an odd feeling from the animal that made his shinobi instincts act up.

This time around, Deidara ignored his partner in favor of trying to unravel the enigma that was the fox. As his visible blue eye stared into the fox's gold ones, he got such a strong feeling that he felt as if the fox had opened its mouth and spoken to him.

"If you die, who's going to show the world true art? You better be careful when you're fighting Sasuke," the fox seemed to give off a more complex air than the cat that Sasori was so focused on.

Deidara soon dismissed this and returned to trying to see Tobi's face before the two moved on. As they left the tea house, the terrorist looked back towards the fox, but he found that it was gone. With a final shake of his head, he pushed the fox and its message out of his mind.

During his fight with Sasuke, the fox's presence came back to him, making his attacks more cautious and causing him to conserve his chakra. In the end, the extra chakra was what saved him from using his final trump card. Instead, he flew away awkwardly on a clay bird as his C3 bomb fell towards the youngest Uchiha.

After not seeing Sasuke or any of the Uchiha's remains in the aftermath, Deidara left satisfied. Of course, he assumed that Tobi had been caught in the blast, and the terrorist took this chance to flee the Akatsuki.

Later, he would get a feeling of irritation due to being saved by the "warning" the fox gave him.

Deidara vowed to find the fox and quickly repay his debt.


	4. Things Don't Always Go As Planned

Chapter 4: Things Don't Always Go As Planned

As Itachi sat upon the throne in the Uchiha stronghold, he engaged in a staring contest with a gold-eyed black fox, who's accusing eyes seemed to grow more accusing every minute.

Itachi, with all his patience, was steadily growing more irritated. For a moment, he toyed with the idea of using his Sharingan on the animal, but he quickly realized how low it would be to attack something so defenseless.

The Uchiha finally looked away, the feeling of guilt the fox had instilled in him overflowing into actions. Had he done something to this fox to deserve its accusing gaze?

To distract himself until his younger brother arrived, Itachi thought over his plans again to ensure that he hadn't missed something. Instead of fading away, the fox's aura seemed to increase, and, as a result, the feeling of wrongness Itachi had grew heavier.

"Maybe you should watch over your brother alive rather than dead. Every plan has variables, and they will vary."

For a second, Itachi believed that the fox had spoken, but further inspection on the memory said that it was only his imagination. When he looked at the fox to make doubly sure that it had not spoken, he found it replaced by a white pill bottle.

Itachi's eyes widen in surprise, but they quickly returned to their original size.

"The decision is yours," the lingering presence of the fox seemed to whisper.

And Itachi decided to procrastinate on that decision as he picked up the tiny white bottle and stowed it away in the pocket of his pants.

Later, after Sasuke had passed out and Tobi came to retrieve him, Itachi's body had disappeared. Tobi had questioned Zetsu about this, but the spy had no answer; maybe it had happened when he blinked?

If the shinobi that followed had searched slightly deeper into the rubble, they might have found an empty white bottle, out of place among the rocks.

Neither side knew what exactly happened to the one who had massacred his entire clan in one night.


	5. Everyone's Sense of Pain Is Different

Chapter 5: Everyone's Sense of Pain Is Different

Nagato sometimes got lost in his memories to reconfirm that what he was doing was the answer. The fox that had somehow found its way into Konan's tree seemed to think otherwise.

"Wrong!" its golden eyes screamed at him.

Nagato ignored it and thought of Yahiko to harden his resolve.

"Would Yahiko really want this?" the fox's eyes replied to his thoughts.

Would he friend really want this? Nagato didn't know. He couldn't speak to the dead.

"Maybe you should go about this the right way," the animal's presence became persuading.

But what was the right way?

"If you can't even answer such a simple question then the answer to peace is far out of your reach," the fox got up and turned to leave, but it looked back right at the exit, "Besides, why would pain be the answer? The masochists wouldn't be affected."

Nagato felt as if he had woken up from a twisted dream. The fox was right, but he was caught under Madara's thumb. What could he do?

"Who ruled the Akatsuki when Yahiko died?" the fox seemed to whisper in his mind.

That was right. Nagato was the Akatsuki leader, and Madara was just a revenged obsessed old man. He would take Konan and leave the organization. The Akatsuki would be no more.

Konoha never suffered at Pein's hand, and Naruto returned to Konoha the old fashion way. The Nine-Tailed Beast's host would have to wait for his hero status, but he would rather it be that way in exchange for the absence of the Invasion.

The remaining two of the Ame Orphans returned to their village. They would start the peaceful ideals there.

A few weeks later Nagato and Konan were surprised to find most of the Akatsuki, including ones that they had presumed dead, waiting at their village entrance along with a cat and the fox.


	6. Go Where the Wind Blows

Chapter 6: Go Where the Wind Blows

Kisame spoke to the cat often. He was a talkative sort of man but didn't often have a talkative companion. Most were wary of his appearance, and Itachi didn't speak very much.

The cat talked to him as well. It didn't communicate through words, no. It spoke through its large gray eyes.

"The Akatsuki disbanded today," Kisame said, "Lead - I mean, Nagato returned to Ame with Konan."

"I know," was the cat's response.

"I don't know what to do now. The Akatsuki was fun while it lasted," the shinobi said with his perpetual grin.

"...," for once, the cat had nothing to say.

The two sat in silence for a while before the cat stood and leaped away.

"What? Can't stand me anymore?" Kisame chuckled darkly.

The cat continued walking until it was a little down the road then it turned back to Kisame and sat down.

"...," Kisame stared, his grin gone in his confusion.

The cat gave him a meaningful look, "Come."

The grin came back full force, and Kisame sighed as he got up, picking up Samehada, "Well, I have nothing better to do. I guess I'll see where you take me."

That was how Kisame ended up at the Akatsuki-minus-two reunion.


	7. If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them

**A/N: Sorry, that I'm late a day.**

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Chapter 7: If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them

The Akatsuki reunion was in no way nostalgic. All of them were actually quite wary of each other. One way or another, all of them had return to the origin of Akatsuki.

Half recognized the cat and the other half recognized the fox.

"Hey, it's that damn cat!" Hidan exclaimed as Deidara shouted, "Ugh, it's that fox, hm."

"This damn cat and that fox saved your lives!" the two animals seemed to be excreting an indignant air.

"What going on? Why are most of you alive?" Nagato's commanding presence silenced the group.

"Dunno, but it seems the reason we're alive is because of those two," Sasori stated, gesturing at the two animals.

The two animals had a scroll at their feet.

"What's that, hm?" Deidara asked and curiously picked it up.

The scroll contained a message between two minor shinobi regarding the declaration of war by Tobi. It detailed the Moon's Eye Plan and Tobi's, or Madara's, plans.

"Well, I don't want to live in a fucking illusion for the rest of my life!" Hidan immediately exclaimed after reading it.

"I could probably get a reasonably sized reward by helping," Kakuzu mused.

"I'll get to fight Uchiha, so of course I'm going! Hm!" Deidara smirked in anticipation.

"Sounds like fun. I don't have anything better to do," Kisame grinned as always.

"Maybe I can get some puppets," Sasori complied absently, probably figuring out how he was going to preserve the reanimated shinobi.

"Of course we'll help. For the sake of peace," Nagato said, and Konan nodded her agreement.

Itachi merely gave a nod, though everyone knew he was thinking of his younger brother.

None of the Akatsuki noticed the disappearance of the two animals as they decided how to join the Alliance, and neither did they notice the cat and the fox watching them with a certain light in their eyes.

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FIN

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**A/N: The end, guys. It was pretty short and plot-less, wasn't it? I hope that you guys enjoyed it anyways! If you didn't...well, it is a drabble that I wrote randomly.**

**-GlitchintheSky**


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